Bakery Biz, July-August, 2021

Ayush Agrawal, Director of Calpro Specialities, has been in the industry for more than three decades with his multi – dimensional experience in speciality food ingredients. He talks to BakeryBiz about his organisations future plan and growth strategy

Calpro Specialities is a popular name in the food ingredients segment. How has the journey been? What is the market share that your brand commands?

The journey has been challenging and interesting. The consumer market for bakery products is rapidly evolving and we are constantly thinking and planning on how to exceed these expectations. We are learning every day from our customers. We don’t measure market share at Calpro. Our proposition is how to create more value for our customers. We stress more on mind share of our customers when it comes to quality, consistency and reliability.

What are the future plans for Calpro Food Specialities? Any new ventures planned for the Calpro group?

From just being an ingredients supplier, we are moving on to be a solution partner for our key customers. We are setting up a large application centre at Gurgaon to support new innovation and product development. We recently launched Blue Box Food Systems to manufacture speciality spray-dried ingredients for our bakery premix customers.

Are there any new products and collaborations planned? Please elaborate.

At Calpro we are always exploring new innovative ingredients. Our Blue Box Food Systems offers premium innovative ingredients for bakery premix customers. Further, we recently collaborated with Dubor, Germany for their release agents and Glanbia Ingredients, Ireland for their dairy proteins.

What specific sales and marketing strategy has helped Calpro attain new heights as a brand of choice in India?

We realized that we have to be close to our customers. The presence of our sales team across regions has helped us focus on large Indian companies and global accounts in those regions. Further, our digital initiatives not only have helped us reach out to our existing customers with new ideas/ innovations but also to connect with many new customers as well.

How mature has the Indian customer become, in light of the varied choices available to them today?

Over the last few years, customers have evolved by not only demanding new ingredients but also become very quality conscious in what they choose. Further, delivery reliability over a long period has been one of the most important choices for which customers are willing to pay a premium.

With the growth in demand for bakery products, the quality does get compromised. Do you feel there is a need for better monitoring of ingredients used by bakers? How stringent are the quality assurance standards at Calpro?

With increasing demand focus on quality is ever more critical. Hence quality assurance plans and adherence are even more important. For the customers we serve, food safety and consistent quality are paramount. Stringent demands from customers have enabled us to constantly improvise. Our manufacturing unit is HACCP 22000, SEDEX, BIS, Halal certified.

COVID times brought about unexpected growth in some segments of the bakery industry. How was business impacted for your organisation? What specific measures have been undertaken to ensure that there is no negative business impact?

Some segments like Food Service, HORE CA markets shrunk considerably, but we were able to pivot with quick decision making and worked closely with large industrial bakeries to meet their demands. Even during Covid times, we grew in high double digits. Further, we have taken this opportunity to understand our customers and their needs better, helping us drive our next growth plan.

What are the current baking ingredient trends being noticed in India? What is expected in the future?

We have noticed two different trends emerging out since the Covid outbreak. First, is a huge demand for guilt-free bakery products in line with the healthier lifestyles of people now. This includes sugar-free, high-protein, gluten-free categories. The second one is more premium indulgence with exclusive and fancy baked goods. People are willing to pay a lot more for super-premium products. This is also true since health-conscious customers indulge once in a while, they want to enjoy a truly wow experience.

Where do you see the Indian bakery market in the next 5 years? Are we delivering the quality and products in line with what is offered internationally? If not, why and what is hindering that growth?

The Indian bakery ecosystem has made great progress in the last few years. Bakeries cater to wide social-economic demographics, so they have products to offer at various price points. The top end of the quality is as good as anywhere globally. All this has been done by bakers, in spite of the low and fluctuating quality of the flour – the basic ingredient. This still remains the biggest challenge for Indian bakeries.

What message would you like to give to the bakers and industry partners?

The entrepreneurial spirit of Indian bakers is truly commendable. They have been able to consistently deliver beyond the expectations of Indian customers in spite of several on-ground challenges.
The focus on quality ingredients and innovation in products should continue to drive business further.

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Towards their endeavour in global sourcing, Calpro Specialities recently achieved another milestone. The company has become the authorised channel partner of Glanbia Ireland Ingredients, Ireland for Milk Protein Concentrate and Caseins for India market. Glanbia Ireland Ingredients, producing perfect ingredients for functional and nutritional applications, are Ireland’s leading dairy processor and one of the top dairy companies in Europe. They process almost three billion litres of milk annually into a range of solutions and ingredients for export to global markets.

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Ayush Agrawal, Director of Calpro Specialities has been spearheading the growth of the company for the last 20 years. He was instrumental in the acquisition of the erstwhile Mahaan Proteins manufacturing plant producing dairy ingredients and protein at KosiKalan, UP. Under his able guidance, the company has been growing at 35 per cent CAGR over the last 5 years. Over these last 2 decades, Ayush has been an avid follower of global trends in the baking industry. Ayush was invited by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (Under the government of the USA), to talk about challenges and opportunities for US food companies in India.

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